Introduction by Lisa Woodward
I am very honored to have been invited to advise on this wonderful Acjachemem language database. Even though I am not a “trained” linguist, I am very interested and supportive in the revitalization and awakening of Native American languages, especially Acjachemem and ‘Atáaxum (Luiseño). Over the years, I researched and reviewed many language manuscripts, from early documents (1860s) to modern recordings (1970s), however, my greatest interest and passion is uncovering the treasure trove of language and cultural information housed in John Peabody Harrington’s field notes. Harrington visited the Acjachemem community in the mid 1920s and again in the early 1930’s, working with some of the last fluent speakers in the Community.
For anyone who has worked with John Peabody Harrington’s field notes knows that it is often difficult to not only decipher his handwriting, but to also make sense of who he is talking to and what he is documenting. This database shows that Sonia Carmen was dedicated to learning all of Harrington’s idiosyncrasies in linguistic terms and writing style, enabling her to comb through all of the Acjachemem materials to extract the words, phrases, and translations in in the field notes. This was a huge task, with over approximately 10,000 pages to review. The amount of time and commitment it took to create this impressive work for the Tribal Community is phenomenal and is such a great asset for the current and future generations!
Since the early 1990s, Sonia worked on creating language materials and opportunities for the Tribal Community to come together to learn, listen, speak the Acjachemem language. Sonia prepared flash cards, made copies of recordings, and distributed language materials to community members at language meetings. Her vision early on was to build a dictionary database of Harrington’s materials so it would be easily accessible to users, even knowing that it would be a long and tedious task. Sonia continued her dedication to this project for over two decades, diligently going through each of the Acjachemem Harrington reels and extracting the language materials to add to the ever-growing database.
This work is a phenomenal contribution to the Acjachemem Tribal Community and will greatly improve access to language materials and cultural information documented by John Peabody Harrington. Users only need to have basic knowledge of linguistic terms and processes to use this word list. Pronunciation and language sound charts are provided to assist first time users, while information about the semantic domains and source pages are also included to refer to the original page content. I am so excited this dictionary is now available and will assist the Tribal Community in language learning and use!
No$úun Lóoviq,
Lisa L. Woodward, Ph.D. | Project Director, J.P. Harrington Database | Archivist, Pechanga Band of Indians
